The Spruce No. 1 mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia came one step closer to a veto today. The EPA released recommendations made by their Region 3 Administrator who oversees mid-Atlantic states including West Virginia. Region 3 Administrator Shawn Garvin recommended that the U.S. EPA veto the Spruce Mine Clean Water Act permit because of the negative impacts it would have on water quality.

Two years ago no bank had a policy on coal mining, and Wall Street was providing finance and credit indiscriminately to the most destructive form of mining in the country. Bank of America, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo have successively passed public policies limiting their financial relationships with coal operators that practice mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining.

Blasting John Denver’s ‘Take me Home, Country Roads’ in the EPA HQ, activists said: “We’re sitting down so the EPA will stand up for Appalachia’s drinking water.” Appalachia residents and environmentalists disappointed at EPA’s decision to approve large coal permit under new mountaintop mining guidelines

Featured Supporter

A pocket of RAN’s strongest supporters is contained in Boulder, Colorado, and Rainmaker Lynn Israel is one of them. She took a few minutes to tell us why she’s passionate about saving the earth and its forests.